Russian forces in Ukraine have lost 1,190 troops and 18 artillery systems in the past day, Kyiv’s military said on Sunday, as losses pile up at the start of the grueling winter effort.
Moscow’s forces have lost a total of 318,570 soldiers and 7,744 artillery systems since the start of all-out war in the country in February 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s military said on Sunday.
It is impossible to independently verify battlefield losses, and Newsweek has reached out to Russia’s Defense Ministry for comment via email.
In an update also published on Sunday, Moscow said 605 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed over the past 24 hours, but did not provide a Russian estimate for total Ukrainian losses in the almost 21-month-long war. The Ukrainian military has been contacted for comment.
ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images
On Sunday, Ukraine’s General Staff said its air-defense systems had destroyed 15 out of 20 Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Moscow. A total of 38 strike drones were launched overnight on Ukrainian territory, Kyiv’s military said.
Over the previous 24 hours, Russia also launched five missiles and 76 airstrikes against Ukraine, according to Kyiv. Moscow has maintained a campaign of missile, drone and artillery strikes on the country since the Kremlin began its invasion effort.
But as the tougher, muddier and freezing winter conditions influence battlefield tactics, Russia is expected to launch a renewed campaign of missile strikes against Ukrainian targets, including on the country’s energy infrastructure.
“As winter approaches, there will be more Russian attempts to make the strikes more powerful,” Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in his daily evening address on Saturday. “It is crucial for all of us in Ukraine to be 100 percent effective,” he added.
More than 150 Ukrainian settlements in the north, east and south of the country came under artillery fire over the past day, Kyiv said on Sunday.
Fighting is continuing around the embattled Donetsk town of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian military also said. “Our warriors are steadily holding the defense, causing the enemy significant losses,” the General Staff continued.
In its daily update, Russia did not mention the fortified, but hard-hit town that has spent months on the front lines, but said its southern grouping of forces had stopped six Ukrainian attacks around the Donetsk town Marinka and the villages of Klishchiivka and Shumy.
Kyiv’s fighters recorded 22 attacks around Marinka, Ukraine said.
More than 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and three armored vehicles were destroyed in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said. The Kremlin has annexed the region, but this is not internationally recognized and it does not control the entirety of territory. The southern swathe of Ukraine has also seen some of the heaviest fighting of Kyiv’s counteroffensive, which began in early June.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.